Moments Have You
by gorekind
Summary: When you're often incredibly bored at work, its the little things that help pass the time. Modern Marco/Ace AU. Trans and queer headcanons galore, focus on Whitebeard's crew, as well as Ace, Sabo, and Luffy all finding a sense of family. Rating will go up later!
1. Song to Sing

this started off with such a simple prompt - something like, "manager at a no-tell motel and frequent room renter. bonus: manager thinks they're a sex worker" - and the AU turned into something much bigger.

i hope you're ready for a bunch of queer/trans headcanons and queer solidarity!

* * *

Its a boring gig, to be honest, but its a steady one. Motel management is an easy station, and the patrons almost never give Marco trouble. The place has a bit of a reputation as some motel of ill repute, so everyone comes at night with their shoulders hunched and voices quiet, alcohol thick on their breaths.

Just nameless faces he only needs to talk to for a few minutes at a time.

There's one face he's registered though, which is probably normal, considering how often he sees the person in question.

One of those people that turns heads. Not necessarily because he's drop dead gorgeous or unusual looking - he's attractive, yes, but its not in some ethereal or magnificent way. Confidence, Marco thinks; that's probably it. One of those people you want to be friends with, or you want to hear say your name.

Marco only knows his name because of what's on his ID. Ace. It fits, somehow.

Just a good looking sort of dude with a nice smile and a good laugh. Its probably that he's seen him before in the day time, when the sun is shining on his tanned skin and all of those freckles. Not the harsh fluorescents, which always make a person look washed out and grungy.

When you're often incredibly _bored_ at work, its the little things that help pass the time.

He comes in sporadically, but often. Always just for a night, checking in early on, always with a blonde boy who looks to be about the same age, who hangs back. He wears a weary look nearly every time Marco sees him. But the way they smile at one another and walk out with their arms around one another's waist …

Well, Marco figures he's like a lot of the other patrons that come by. Its just an inkling, but its a strong one. Marco wonders - casually, of course - just how much the boy goes for. The place is cheap, so the clients are cheap.

Ace is definitely too attractive for the going rates of the place, Marco decides.

Its stupid to think about, though. So he doesn't. He takes his phone, cigarettes, and wallet and heads out from behind the counter.

Marco always takes a smoke break at one thirty AM, right before bars close. When the bars let out, he usually has to do some work.

Its only a few drags into his Camel Crush that a pickup rolls into the parking lot, just a few yards away. Marco sighs out smoke and laments the fact that he'll have to clip it before he gets his full nicotine fix.

Ace hops out of the truck, and it occurs to Marco that he never considered how the young man got to the motel in the first place. Its sort of out of the way from a lot.

He goes to clip the smoke on the bottom of his Doc Marten, and Ace holds his hand up as if to tell him to stop.

"Its cool, I can wait." he says, voice a little rough with what Marco takes to be exhaustion.

"Thanks, man." comes his reply, then a beat of silence, "You want one?"

"If you can spare it, yeah. Please and thanks." he steps closer, and grins, and Marco takes a moment to appreciate that grin before digging his pack out again. As soon as he takes the smoke, he pops the bead in the filter that turns it to menthol. A seasoned smoker.

Marco lights the end of the smoke for him.

"You're here alone for once."

"How astute."

Marco smiles, exhaling a laugh despite himself, "Thought a guy like you would have some, uh. Arm candy. I mean, you usually do."

"Arm candy." he repeats, slowly, like he's testing the words on his tongue, "Guy like me. Hm. Do I really exude the kind of air that screams 'deserves arm candy'?"

"Well, every time I've seen you come in you're hanging onto one another." Marco shrugs. Ace shrugs too.

"He's my brother, not my boyfriend or anything. We're just close." he exhales the smoke. Huh. Swing and a_ spectacular _miss on the whole male prostitute and john thing. He feels a little dumb and embarrassed at that, but ashes and manages to keep his cool.

It strikes Marco as weird that he comes to a sleazy as all Hell motel with his brother, but they must have their reasons.

"Guess the word 'assume' really does make an ass out of you and me."

Ace stares at Marco for a split second before he starts _laughing_. Its the first time he's heard him laugh harder than something polite and casual, and its still just as nice. Under those fluorescents, moths bumping headlong, he manages to look stunning.

It occurs to Marco that he might have an odd infatuation with him.

"Man, I didn't know anyone besides middle school teachers actually said that." the syllables come out laced with snickers and smoke. Marco has to laugh, too; its contagious.

"My gramma used to say it. Guess it just got ingrained into my personal vocabulary."

Marco finishes his smoke when Ace still has a quarter of his left.

He ashes, "Was your gramma a middle school teacher?"

"Nah, nurse. Good guess though."

Ace puts the smoke out in the proper container for it, exhaling through the motions. Still grinning, he straightens.

"What did you assume about me, exactly?"

Marco spends too much time wondering if he should play it straight or not, and turns to open the door to the front office. Over his shoulder, "Well, the place has a rep, you know?"

He starts laughing again, following, "You thought I was a hooker?"

"Rep." Marco repeats. He circles around to the space behind the counter.

"Do I look like a hooker?"

"Wear your jeans a little lower and brush your hair back, maybe."

"You seem pretty acquainted with gigolos."

Marco grins at the outdated and ridiculous term, rolling his eyes a little. "They're not as common as female sex workers, but I know the type. You staying for the night again?"

"Two nights, actually." Ace says, fishing out his wallet from his back pocket, "What's your name?"

Their eyes meet. The question was a little abrupt, but delivered just as casual. He slaps money down on the counter, unable to hide his smirk. Still contagious.

"Marco." he swipes the money off the counter.

"You don't look like a Marco." he squints at this, as if fitting a better name to the face. Marco quirks an eyebrow in response, leaning on the counter just as the other does.

"You seem pretty acquainted with Marcos."

"I'm not, actually, but I might like to be." Ace says, playful, but he rights himself from leaning. _Shit_, Marco thinks, _Kid got me_. He almost laughs before Ace continues, "We set?"

"Yeah. Let me know if you need anything, don't set the room on fire, blah blah, you know the drill." he says this while taking the room key out to hand to Ace. He takes it and catches Marco's eye again. The both of them look tired, feel tired, but there's some sort of spark in Ace's eye for just a second that belies his exhaustion.

"_Thaaaanks_, man. Good night!"

He leaves with a wave, leaving Marco feeling just slightly bereft.

Its an odd encounter, he thinks. But all the same, like after every other patron, like every time at one forty-five on his shifts, he sits down and he waits.

* * *

Luffy treats doors how football players treat paper banners - he crashes on through. Sabo is much too tired and much too weighed down with bags to be able to grab him by the back of his shirt and reel him in. Its not much of a big deal, anyway.

He flips on the lights.

"Heel, Luffy, heel." he says, anyway. Ace is curled up in one corner of the bed, still in his t-shirt and jeans. It wouldn't surprise Sabo if he'd forgotten to bring pajamas at all. Good thing he thinks ahead.

"Time is it?"

"Like, three." Luffy chirps, falling back onto the bed, "We got Burger King, so sit up."

He does, possibly quicker than he should have; the lights burn at his eyes. Rubbing the sleep out of them, Ace rights himself more on the bed and regards his brothers.

Normally, they'd show up together, but the newly arrived pair had prior obligations and Ace had a bad need to leave.

There's not a lot of down time at Dadan's, with people coming in and out at all hours of the night and day. It just seemed to strike a nerve now moreso than before, like the planets aligned to magnify Ace's irritation. Anxiety and anger swelled in his chest until he found himself driving to the oft-visited motel, a text sent to Luffy and Sabo as an afterthought.

He'd calmed down on the ride over with System of A Down playing, honestly; just getting away from the situation was enough. Still, something strange hangs over the night like a storm cloud.

Sabo offers him a bag of food and sinks into the chair at the desk. He looks older than he is, weary. Ace counts on the three of them sleeping in late.

"How was the movie?" Ace asks. He picks through the fries and pops a couple in his mouth. Where Sabo looks tired, Luffy appears wide awake in the sort of caught - his - second - wind sort of way.

Still, he's been known to drop and sleep absolutely any time, anywhere.

"Funny. I started a slow clap at the end." Luffy replies, matter of fact, tacking on, "You should have come."

"I wouldn't have been good company, kiddo." he jokes, "Maybe next time."

Sabo starts to take off his binder through his shirt, speaking as he does, "Thanks for getting the room, anyway. No way I could have slept in that house tonight."

"That bad, huh?"

Sabo nods and stands, all languid, looking like he's about to drop any minute. Discarding his binder on the floor, he promptly flops into bed with his feet hanging off the edge. Luffy snickers and pats at his head.

Ace takes that as a cue, that Sabo doesn't want to talk about his insufferable parents or the games they play and the shows they put on at their son's expense. They're not entirely supportive or knowledgeable in regards to his gender identity, so he has it pretty rough.

At least Dadan genders Luffy and Ace correctly, even if she's a loud drunk. Ace pets at Sabo's head too, a silent show of solidarity, but he's out like a light.

Luffy takes the remote off the bedside table and begins to flip through the channels, silent and worn out. He doesn't settle on a single show while they pick through their food, unspeaking. Soon he falls asleep too, sitting propped up against the headboard with the remote still in his hands.

The TV plays the news and Ace feels the weight of the day, heavy over him. He thinks a lot of nothing, static in his brain while the newscasters speak. Its nice to zone out, some, after all the introspection and negativity of the day.

Just as the reports cycle for the third time, he falls under sleep's spell, too.


	2. Make You Feel Better

this chapter is so much longer than the first; there's just not a good place to break it off. i'd like to thank everyone for their reviews, follows, and faves; they really kept me going! you're all the best.

* * *

Eight o'clock comes, bringing with it the sun and another night's hard-earned wages. Marco can't seem to get out of there fast enough, with that shift-end vigor like gas in the tank. He checks his phone just after sliding into his car. Sure enough, its lit up with a message from Rakuyo.

Breakfast today, in case you forgot.

Nah, he couldn't forget that. Rakuyo should know, especially since Pops would end up hauling his ass back home bodily if he forgot. He shoots back, " affirmative, presently en route " as a joke, and starts up the car. Its not like its a far drive; he suspects that everyone is there already.

Whitebeard's kids are always prompt to respond to his requests. One sort of has to be prompt. Its not that's he's especially demanding, but that he's helped out so many of them in huge ways that they all feel indebted.

When Edward Newgate says jump, his kids ask how high. Its just how things go.

Need anything while I'm out?

He sends the text at a red light, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. This is a weekly occurrence; same time, same place. It never gets old, thankfully; everyone gets along and they help one another out. These get togethers are always looked forward to, not dreaded. Bracketing his week neat and cleanly, time to catch up with those he's called his family for so long.

Haruta said they want ice cream for their waffles.

They even used their manners this time.

Of course they do. He soon turns into a small grocery store to procure the ice cream, and a new pack of smokes.

Word. You got it.

Marco puts the phone down and climbs out of the car to head inside. Not even when he reaches the door, he sees a pair of men that he recognizes, exiting.

Shanks, hand raised in greeting when he notices Marco, with his seldom-seen, severe-looking partner. Mihawk, or something. Marco greets him with a nod in turn. The red-haired man is all smiles when he strides up, but Mihawk looks more reserved. Marco only ever met the guy once.

"Sup, Shanks. And Mihawk, right?"

Mihawk nods curtly, and Shanks beams, speaks, "Its been a while; Whitebeard invited us over for breakfast today."

"No shit?" he says, "Must wanna talk with you, or something."

"Ah, he might've mentioned something." he waves his hand dismissively. Marco has to smirk.

"Hope you're not in trouble with Pops. You know how scary he can get."

Everything about Shanks is good natured, even when he rolls his eyes at the comment. He's such a genuine sort of guy, but Marco has seen him get fierce before. Respectable. Even if they banter, its a good sort of banter; Marco approves of him in general.

"I suppose its a good thing that Whitebeard doesn't have me on a leash, hm?" he teases. Marco sniffs.

"Shut up, man." he says, flatly, then adds, "I'll see you there, yeah? Haruta will flip if I don't get there with their ice cream soon."

"Of course." Shanks replies, inclining his head, "See you there."

He turns his back on Marco, heading back with Mihawk to their car, bag-laden. Marco watches them for a second, before walking inside the store himself.

Wondering casually what Whitebeard needs Shanks for, he heads to the freezer. Top secret old queer veteran business, no doubt.

The both of them go way back, though the details are lost to Whitebeard's kids. Just old friends who have one another's backs, who sometimes bicker. Marco isn't especially curious about whatever they went through together, though. Their business is their business.

Soon enough, he's walking back to the car with ice cream, new smokes, and a carton of orange juice, because the crew goes through it like its nothing.

The trip to Whitebeard's is short from there. Cars all parked in the driveway, Marco does a quick count. He's the last to arrive, of course.

He lets himself in, met immediately with the smell of breakfast and the din of laughter and conversation. Kicking off his shoes at the entrance, he holds the bag out to a passing Haruta, who takes it and bounces on their heels.

"Thanks, you're a life saver." they grin, skipping off to put the ice cream and orange juice away.

Thatch, Jozu, Izo, Vista, and Rakuyo are seated at the table, looking wide awake. Marco nods his hello and lights his cigarette before sitting beside them. Haruta strides back in from the kitchen, taking their place beside Izo.

"Where's Pops?"

"Talking with Shanks and Mihawk." Rakuyo says, and the look on his face spells 'top secret old queer veteran business' indeed. Just as suspected.

"Someone is in trouble. And it ain't me." Jozu says, "I've been good."

"I'm sure," Izo snickers. "Maybe we're all in trouble?"

"Nah. Its Haruta."

"Yeah, definitely Haruta."

"Definitely."

Haruta kicks at Marco under the table just as the three eldest walk back into the room. Whitebeard looks over the table and nods, as if satisfied.

Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate is the patriarch of a house of queer strays, taken in at various points in their lives; he helps them get back on their feet or find a sense of family, community - whichever they need more. He's incredibly adamant about the notion of created family, and all the strays he's taken in cling to this notion wholeheartedly.

He stands proud at the head of his table, in front of his small pack of family and friends.

"Everyone here? Good." he says gruffly, "Dig in, you animals."

* * *

Luffy - God bless him - is stir-crazy in the tiny motel room, alternating between bouncing on the edge of the bed and staring out the window. Rain beats down hard on the pavement, providing a sleepy sort of sound that might lull Ace back into it. He always gets tired on rainy days.

Nights are no better.

"Do you remember when we were like … seven and ten and ten and we were coming home off the bus stop and it rained really hard like this for, like, five minutes?" Luffy pipes up from his spot at the window. He looks back to grin at his brothers. "Cleared up quick, too."

"Sure I do." Sabo says, "We got absolutely drenched and Dadan barked at us for tracking mud."

"What good times." comes Ace's sarcastic remark.

"It totally was! We should run out there again. Right now."

He's not waiting for a response, opting instead to whip off his hoodie and go bounding out the door. Sabo and Ace share a look before slowly rising to their feet to stand at the doorway like the weary caretakers they are. Luffy, barefoot and laughing, races around by himself in the dark of the motel parking lot.

"You're gonna get sick again!" Ace calls.

"You sound like an old man!"

"He got you there, old timer." Sabo remarks. He then sighs, as if contemplating some great thing, before taking off running after Luffy. Ace tails him quickly, not about to be outdone. Fuck it, he figures.

The steady crash of rain dampens both their clothes and their laughter. Ridiculous as it is, Ace actually feels pretty good about not caring and running around in the rain with his brothers. Most things are better with them.

Luffy ends up leading the two of them to the patch of grass that borders the parking lot, sitting down to watch traffic. As they creep closer to midnight, it slows to a few passing cars a minute.

The rain lightens to a mere drizzle as time passes.

One of the cars - a familiar looking jeep - pulls in and parks nearby. The trio watches the driver climb out, but only Ace's gaze lingers. Marco squints at the boys and makes his way over.

"You guys get locked out or something?"

"No." Luffy says brightly, turning back around.

He blinks, slowly, "All right. Just needed to dance in the rain, or whatever?"

Luffy nods and shoots Marco a thumbs up, "You got it."

"Heh, not the weirdest shit I've seen around here. Have a good night, then."

Before he can turn to leave, Ace calls out, "Hey, when do you take your smoke break?"

There's a grin on Marco's face he doesn't even bother to hide, "One thirty, usually. You gonna bother me?"

"If I have a nic fit, sure. Marco." he tacks on the name with a small snicker, which earns an odd look from both Luffy and Sabo.

"I'll be waiting with bated breath. Ace." Marco nods, still smiling, and turns to head inside.

Sabo's eyebrows furrow in a silent sort of, "what was that?".

"We ended up talking yesterday. He's kind of funny, I flirted at him." he explains.

"Did it work?"

"Well, its not like I asked him on a date." Ace shrugs, "I'm just sort of playing."

"Ace of hearts," Luffy teases, flopping over across his lap. Ace tugs at his hair, to which Luffy sticks out his tongue, defiant.

"I'll Ace-of-clubs you if you don't get off me, kiddo." he says it playfully, pinching at the younger's cheek.

Luffy cups his hands around his mouth and boos at the pun.

"Hey. No clubbing, please." Sabo says, though he laughs a little, "And we should head inside. Its getting cold."

Sabo stands, and Luffy offers his hand. The elder helps him up, and the third follows suit. They're drenched from head to toe and the chill of it has begun to work closer towards their bones, leaving them shivering just slightly.

They end up back inside, huddled on the bed in new, dry clothes, toweling off their hair.

As soon as he's dry enough, Luffy jumps underneath the covers for warmth. He still looks wide awake, like the hour doesn't touch him. Sabo flops over across his legs, while Ace changes his shirt, opting to stay in his jeans.

Swiping the bottle of rum off the table, he takes a seat on the bed to join his brothers.

All the anger and sleep from the day prior has drained off of Ace, like shedding a second skin with the help of the two with him. Some pessimistic part of him, dank and dark, knows its just going to come over him again. It always seems to come back around, and he hasn't gotten any better at fighting it off.

"Are you gonna go visit that guy?" Luffy asks, pulling the blanket up to his chin. The sleepy voice pulls Ace from his reverie.

Ace shrugs, swigging at the booze, "Maybe. He's cute."

Luffy rolls over and makes a humming noise, as if in contemplation of his brother's decision.

"I guess." he yawns, shaking his head.

Sabo yawns too, before piping up, "We have to check out soon, huh?"

"Not if you don't want to."

"Nah, I think I'll be fine if we do. Mom and Dad will probably be in their martini and muscle relaxer comas like they usually are on weekends." he says it simply, punctuating it with a shrug, but Ace can hear the sardonic tone stitching together the words.

Luffy makes a noise that sounds a lot like disgust. He's always made his disapproval of Sabo's situation well known; then again, its hard not to. Its his call, ultimately.

"If it gets bad, I have places I can go. You guys know that."

"How is your girlfriend, anyway?" Ace asks, snickering. Sabo buries his face in the covers, a quiet 'shut up' thrown at the other.

The trio lapses into silence after that, but its an easy sort of silence.

Its nice to have, a quiescence that doesn't need to be filled.

* * *

Ace is met with the whooping and hollering of his brothers when he exits the room, much to his dismay. He shoots them a middle finger and shuts the door quickly, before glancing around to see if Marco is indeed out for his smoke break.

He's about seven doors down, a distance that feels like a football field. He walks it anyway, nodding his greeting at the other.

"Sounds like a real wild party in there," Marco says by way of greeting. He shakes a Crush out of his pack and hands it to Ace. Then he flicks a Zippo out to the end before Ace can so much as ask. Once the cherry is glowing and smoking, Ace leans against the building and nods.

"They're almost always going bonkers." he says, mirth curving his lips upwards. "Thanks, by the way."

"No problem, champ."

"Champ? Jeez." Ace shakes his head, "Your vernacular is pretty strange. That one made you sound like a lame older brother. And I'd know what that sounds like."

Marco grins, eyes focused elsewhere, as if remembering some sort of private joke, "I've been called all that before, Ace."

A silence similar to the one before, in the room, falls over them. They smoke their cigarettes in peace, just a few drags, before Marco pipes up again. Ace ashes and turns to face him.

"I gotta ask - and normally I don't ask patrons this - but … You're not, like, street kids or anything, are you? Just 'cause you come here an awful lot."

"No." Ace answers, brows furrowed a little, "No, the three of us have places to go back to."

"Right. I'm sort of in the business of worrying about that kind of stuff."

"Are you? You kind of looked like you couldn't care less every time I came in," Ace exhales the sentence with his smoke. Marco laughs a huffy sort of laugh.

"That's just my face." he replies, shifting his weight from over one hip to the other, "My Pops sort of instilled that worry in me."

"You and your Pops run an orphanage?"

"Kind of."

"… Under the table orphanage?"

He laughs again, taking a moment to drag off his smoke and exhale. Ace does the same.

"Nah. We just give back to the queer community, mostly helping homeless kids find places to stay. Networking and giving resources, stuff like that."

This piques Ace's interest; he lifts his head a little, eyes trained on Marco.

"Really? That's awesome, man. I'd like to do stuff like that, too."

"No shit. Its not that hard to get into, you just gotta meet the right people." he punctuates the sentence with a wink that makes Ace smile.

"Are you the right people to get into the queer illuminati?"

"Suppose I am. Hazing is pretty wicked, though."

"You're funny, Marco."

"Been called that, too."

A car turns into the parking lot, then, signaling to Marco that the need to get back to work is imminent. He doesn't look especially pleased about that, exhaling out smoke. The cigarette is smoked down to the bust, so he clips it on the bottom of his boot.

Ace watches him pull a pen out of his pocket, then grab his hand to scrawl something on the palm. His hands are a little rough with callouses; grip firm, warm.

"My number." Marco says, slipping the pen back into the pocket of his jeans, "If you're for real on the queer illuminati thing, text me some time."

"Can do, Marco."

Marco's eyes seem to twinkle at that, with something other than the glow of artificial light overhead. Ace gets the distinct feeling that he's thinking of something private again, that he might very well be walking into something resembling a secret society.

Marco turns to walk into the building, with a quiet "good night" tossed casually over his shoulder, and the spell breaks; the previous notion strikes Ace as a silly one. He flicks the sizeable ash from the end of the cigarette and glances again at Marco's number on his palm. Dropping his hand to his side, he finishes the smoke and then programs the digits into his phone before heading back to the room.

When he walks back in, Sabo and Luffy are sprawled across the bed, which looks a bit like a tornado hit it. The sheets lay strewn about, pillows slumped over weakly, battle-worn, on the floor. Must have been jumping on it, he figures.

"Are you gonna get married now, or whatever it is allos do?" Luffy asks.

"Shut up." Ace yawns. He takes a seat on the edge of the bed, eyes trained on the television. Cartoons, bright. "Do you guys wanna go for a drive or something?"

"Stir crazy again?" comes Sabo's voice.

"Maybe I just want to feel the city air on me."

"You're weird. I wouldn't mind!" Luffy pipes up, "So long as we can get something to eat."

"I knew you were going to say that." Ace huffs, "You bottomless pit."

"So that's a yes!"

Luffy bounds up and out of the room. Sabo and Ace share a look, then a silent count down from five. Before they reach one, the youngest of the three returns with an 'oh yeah!', sliding his feet into his shoes.

The trio is out in the truck in a matter of moments, with Ace taking the wheel. The motel's proximity to the highway is something like convenient, when he turns onto it and coasts. Luffy sits in the middle, kicking his feet and bobbing his head along to the music playing in the CD player.

This is fine, Ace thinks; much better than the days prior, like an upwards climb outside of the negativity. They'll have to return to it soon, but the stays out by themselves just repair the cracks in the armor, give them ammunition.

Ace drives them to a Denny's, much to Luffy's excitement; he'd been expecting something from a drive thru. They find their ways inside, they order drinks. Luffy ends up sucking down his entire drink before the waitress returns to take food orders.

Chin held in his hand, Ace stirs his drink. They fill the silence with idle chatter; dysphoria, gender, transition.

Ace learns its been easier on his brothers, as far as dysphoria goes. He supposes they're lucky, having been blessed with smaller chests. The thought of his own makes him squirm, makes him deflect the conversation in a way that Luffy doesn't notice, a way that makes Sabo narrow his eyes.

The topic moves onto school and friends, weaving stories of this one and that one and how they all fit together. Ace wants to record his brothers' chatter, their laughter, to keep away the negativity. Prayers.

They link their arms and they leave, opting to sit in the parking lot. Time pulls the moon higher in the sky, up to and past her zenith.

Summer will end soon, bringing with it neat and tidy blocks of time with the school year. It was a decent summer; they only got in trouble once for pool hopping.

Before he gets pulled into reverie too deeply, Ace shakes his head and turns onto a side street, riddled with pot holes. Its far away from where Sabo lives, but they're familiar streets, run through time and time again.

"Remember when you were going down that hill on Rowan a scooter in like, eighth grade and you totally ate shit?" Ace snickers, elbowing Sabo gently. The blonde taps his temple fondly with a grin.

"Got my shit-eating scar right here." he changes track, "Remember when we had to go out looking for Luffy and Zoro at like, ass o'clock in the morning 'cause they didn't know where they were?"

"Remember when shut up? I learned a valuable lesson that day!"

"And that is?"

"Never follow Zoro. Ever." he nods decisively, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ace laughs, "You live and you learn, huh?"

Luffy nods again, leaning out of the open window a little. August smells sweet, not quite nature-dead like it will in September. They coast, turning here and there, still keeping up their chatter. The youngest ends up falling asleep, gentle snores, with his head against Sabo's shoulder.

Ace heads back in the direction of the motel, finally, with a sleeping brother and a quiet one. He stays quiet only for the length of the thirty miles-per-hour trip down Drexler.

"Ace, are you okay, by the way?"

He turns the truck, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You seemed a little antsy when we were talking about chest surgery and stuff."

"Its not exactly my favorite topic." he shrugs. He didn't really notice it, didn't see it as being a big deal. How can it be something approached with enthusiasm and smiles when its so steeped in dysphoria, in necessity? Its just more negativity he wants to be on the other side of.

"Right. … You can talk with us, you know."

"I know, man." he bumps his fist against the other's knee in acknowledgement, some small show of thanks. "I am fine and will continue to be."

"I sure hope so."


	3. I'm Around

god it feels like its been forever? i don't have a set schedule for my updates, but this one feels overdue. thanks everyone for your reviews! i read them all the other day and it gave me the strength to finish this chapter.

* * *

Ace's eyes are trained on his Nintendo DS, like they have been all morning. Sunlight streams in through the bay window, a beam under which the house cat lays. Both Luffy and Ace feel similarly lazy, as is par the course on a summer day. They've committed themselves to the sunlight like the cat, before.

Stretched out across the couch, feet in Ace's lap, Luffy heaves a dramatic sigh.

"You're being boring."

"Good." says the other, eyes still trained on the screen.

"Good bye, Ace!" Luffy yells, rolling off of the other onto the ground. He catches himself on his palms, push up stance, before rolling to a loose cross legged position. Then he buries himself in his phone, sending a mass text out.

i have a boring brother someone save me

A reply comes back relatively quick. Sanji.

Sure thing. I'm with Zoro, Usopp, and Kuina right now.

Is that all right?

The prospect has him bouncing where he sits.

hell yeah it is! im at dadans, come get meeeee

He all but throws his phone down on the floor, flopping down on it himself. Every movement today is dramatic, that's what he decided.

Sabo happens to be at Koala's, bless him; it had been Ace and Luffy's turn to applaud and whoop and holler at him before he set off to the girl's house. The way his face colors all bright red at the cheering makes the others laugh every time.

Honestly, he more than deserves some time with her. Its been rough at his home as of late, sending the normally cheerful boy into spots of quietness, dropped smiles. Ace figures its nothing he can't bounce back from, but its also nothing he deserves.

"Sanji is coming to get me soon, so you'll have to function without me."

"I can manage, I think." Ace says evenly, "You have fun though, yeah?"

Its clear that Ace isn't invited along this time, which is fine by him. As much as he enjoys the company of his brothers, time away from them can be valuable, too. The clock chimes noon, bells sounding throughout the otherwise empty home.

Luffy ends up scrambling out the door in about twenty minutes' time, a "catch you later, Ace!" thrown hastily over his shoulder. He waves his good bye, watching out the window as Luffy quite literally jumps into the car; he can even hear the younger boy howling, "drive, drive, drive!" as he hangs out of the damn thing.

Ten minutes burns away in the light of the DS, before it occurs to Ace that he actually has chores to do today. Dadan left a list.

He ends up getting up after another forty to mow the lawn. Summer heat beats down on him, sweat collecting at his temples from the exertion. When the work is done, he brings himself to the quiet house again to finish the dishes. He feeds the cat and takes out the garbage, putting on music on the living room's stereo.

It seems like he does all of this on autopilot, not thinking very much of anything. Going through his motions, little robot boy. Sinking back onto the couch with John Frusciante playing, he thinks very pointedly, _fuck, I'm lonely_.

And he doesn't know how to fix it.

His brothers are gone, and his friends are all either jerks from high school, or jerks hanging out with Luffy. It dawns on him that he might need new friends, but this isn't a novel train of thought for him.

Friends like most of his aren't real friends, but Ace can sometimes get starved for company. They crack insensitive jokes from time to time, but they buy cheap beer and smoke good weed, so its not like its all bad.

Lonely though Ace is, he doesn't much feel like going to that level.

_Beggars can't be choosers, asshole,_ he tells himself, and he stares at his phone. He's scrolling through his contacts list on the way to 'T', before he stops at 'M'.

He ends up texting Marco.

hey its ace. not sure if there was some queer illuminati codeword that im missing or not

And he waits.

The codeword is codeword, actually, so you're lucky.

What's up?

Ace laughs despite himself, fingers flying over the keypad.

a whole lot of fuck all basically

my brothers all left and the cat doesnt wanna spend time with me

It feels sort of strange and somewhat exciting to be texting someone new, and it dawns on Ace how_lame_ that actually is. Whatever; the conversation is decent.

What do you usually do when you're bored?

hang out with straight white guys.

At least he's easy to talk to, so far. Ace tips over on the couch, closing his eyes for a moment. The playlist on the stereo is almost over; he'll need to get up and change it.

Are they getting on your nerves, or something?

Ace ends up telling Marco about his shitty friends for a few texts, before the conversation falls out to where they went to school, how long they've been around the area.

Ace finds out that Marco is a relative newcomer, where Ace has been in the same house for most of his life. Its been six years since Marco relocated from Washington, down into the sunshine and heat and noise of California.

He says he likes it a lot better.

The conversation carries Ace through the living room to the kitchen to his room; time rolls off.

What are you up to now, besides texting me?

still nothing :P

Wanna hang out or something?

I got everything done I needed to get done.

He considers this, too, but it doesn't take much mulling.

* * *

The front porch is wet where its rained, leaving the seat of Ace's pants despairingly damp. His legs move of their own accord, bouncing up and down a hundred miles an hour. Maybe it should occur to him that its a nervous gesture. It doesn't. Marco agreed to come get him, thankfully. Ace feels he has done more than enough driving for the past few days.

Marco requested that he be shown around the neighborhood a little, being that its an area he's seldom visited. Ace has enough stories to fill a book or two; good thing he was a problem child.

He pulls up in his jeep, arm hanging out of the window and music barely audible from the distance between them. Ace nods his greeting, circling around to climb in the passenger side. He finds he doesn't recognize the music at all. Its something like EDM, quiet in volume but energetic.

Marco looks as sleepy as he always does, posture a little slack in the driver's seat, but his eyes still have that odd spark in them when he looks over to Ace.

"Hey, man." he greets.

"Yo. Where we goin' first?"

Ace hums in thought, considering. He pipes up after a moment, "Turn outta here and take a right. There's a playground around here I used to haunt."

"Yes, captain." Marco backs out of the driveway, "Playground, huh?"

"Yeah. I started running away to it when I was like, seven? Dadan caught on pretty early, but we'd go there anyway."

"You and you brother?"

"Brothers, yeah."

"Tell me about 'em." he turns the right as he's bid, coasting down the main road at a leisurely pace. Ace thinks; where to begin with them?

"There's Sabo, who's a few months younger than me. He's the nice brother, he's always kinda … soft on Luffy. I think he's probably a better person than I am, a lot more patient."

"Mmhm."

"Take another right two blocks up. There's, ah. Luffy, who's younger by three years." he crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back into the seat more, "He's fun and loud and really blunt. He could probably beat anyone in an eating competition. … I want the best for both of 'em."

Ace stays silent and shy for all of two seconds at the admission, before piping up, "Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah. Bunch of 'em. They're all ridiculous and I dunno what I'd do without those jerks." he snickers under his breath, shakes his head, "I get what you mean about wanting the best for 'em, though."

"Are you close in age?"

"Mmm. Most of us are twenties, thirties, but I got a younger sister named Haruta who's eighteen. They're a trip."

"Go straight for a three blocks and then turn a left onto Maple. It'll be on your side." Ace instructs, before continuing, "Little siblings are always a trip, I think."

"Even the big ones are. Sometimes I'm the guy everyone goes to for their own shit, which isn't a bad thing. I like helping, you know?"

"Yeah, I get you. Sounds like you get along, at least …"

"Most of the time." Marco muses, mirthful. He seems like the kind of guy, to Ace, that has a lot of inside jokes; it almost always looks like he's remembering one of them. An intriguing sort of guy …

The jeep rolls to a stop at the park soon thereafter. Its a decent size, though back when he and his brothers were younger, it seemed so much bigger. So much more impressive. This was their battle-worn castle, their spaceship, their respite. The swings off in the distance lent to more grass stains and hurt wrists and ankles than anything else; the field held their kickball games and tag.

"Tell me about something that happened here." Marco says, once they're out and heading towards the wood chips. Ace searches, stepping up onto one of the platforms to stride to the bridge, where he bounces in place.

"Mmm … One time a bunch of us were out playing Manhunt, if you know what that is."

"Nah."

Marco joins him on the bridge, hands closed around the teal railing, paint chipping.

"Its like hide and seek, but you look for a single person. I was really good at it and no one ran faster than me. Everyone wanted me to be 'it', 'cause I was the best." he tells him, snickering at the memories, "My claim to fame, being really good at Manhunt when I was ten. Anyway, see that fence _waaaay_ over there?"

He points to a red fence on the other side of the playground - this old wooden thing, faded and weathered.

"Mmhm."

"I hopped it 'cause I hadn't before, and we had basically exhausted all the good hiding spots. There was this huge dog on the other side. Scared the fuck out of me even though all it did was bark, so I screamed bloody god damn murder, and the dog's owner came out. I had to book it the long way around and … _God_, I started laughing my ass off like half way to the park, but I was shaking so bad that I just ended up collapsing on the grass."

Ace and Marco share a quiet laugh over it, but the former drops his gaze to his shoes. He heads off towards the monkey bars just a few feet away.

"Everyone thought I got bitten, and I was laughing and wheezing so hard that they didn't get the real story for, like, ten minutes. Luffy thought I had rabies."

That earns another laugh out of Marco. Its a nice sound, Ace finds. He starts across the monkey bars, having to hold his knees closer to his chest because of the lack of height.

"Did you get in trouble?"

"Nah, surprisingly," he says it with some effort, still powering through the monkey bars. He gets to the other side and hops down, arms in the air in something like triumph. Marco follows suit. They fall into silence, climbing higher in the playground. Ace slides down the slide and Marco takes the pole down, wood chips crunching under his feet as he hits bottom.

"Tell me about when you and your sibs were younger." Ace says, once Marco has circled around. Ace sits at the base of the slide, turning over a chip in his hands.

"We didn't really grow up together. Chosen family, not biological." Marco remarks, plopping down in the wood chips unceremoniously, "But I can tell you about us more recently."

The notion of chosen family hits home for Ace. He wonders exactly how big Marco's clan is, but nods to start the story.

"My brother Rakuyo does drag, right. So one day he decided he wanted to make me pretty, and I had Izo and him fussing over me for … A ridiculously long time. He's an incredibly dedicated queen."

Marco snickers, shakes his head, "We were all over at Pops' place while we were getting pretty. Pops and Thatch needed someone to run out to the store because we were out of milk, so of course we all had to go out with make up on."

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah. I mean, it was funny — I think I have pictures, hang on."

Marco digs his phone out of his pocket to go through his photos, continuing the story as he goes, "We got a lot of weird looks, but didn't get heckled or anything. I actually got hit on. Pretty hard. Ended up giving the guy my number and … Ah, here we go."

He turns his phone to show Ace, who leans in closer so as to see better. There's a selfie on the screen and — well, damn. Rakuyo does excellent work. The make up is mostly blues, with a dark cerulean for the lipstick. He flips to the next picture, where he looks slightly ridiculous, making an over-the-top duck face.

"Wow, dude. That looks …" his voice trails as he tries to find a word.

"Hot, right?"

Ace laughs, a little embarrassed, "Yeah. So you gave the guy your number and … ?"

"_Weeeell_ …" the quirk of his eyebrow and the grin on his face says it all before he puts it into words. Ace holds up a hand, laughing more.

"Gotcha."

"Ended up staying in the make up all day, though," Marco says, slowly getting to his feet. Ace follows suit, and the two of them walk towards the swings.

They swing for a while, trade stories.

Ace tells Marco about when he taught Luffy how to ride a bike, when Luffy ended up taking off down the block and Ace and Sabo had to chase him. He tells him how he felt like he was in an action movie, how they laughed so hard they didn't even have the heart to chide Luffy.

Marco tells Ace about the poker game a month ago, when he refused to talk to Vista for a week for getting two royal flushes in a row. He says that he nearly flipped the table, it was so ridiculous, that he lost a bunch of money that night, that Vista said he forgave him first.

They end up driving around the neighborhood; more stories, talking about this and that. Ace learns that Marco is a recovering alcoholic. Marco learns that Ace doesn't want to talk about his biological parents.

Hours burn away under their talks, taking them further into the suburbs. The nicer areas.

"I'm afraid I don't have any stories for this part of town," Ace remarks. The houses here are bigger — developments.

"Me either. Pops is in this area, though … Would you wanna meet him and whoever's around?" Marco asks, sounding somewhat hopeful.

Ace nearly makes a sarcastic joke about meeting his parent on the first date, but bites his tongue. This is hardly a date. There's a thick pause while he thinks it over. He's nervous around parental figures, but this man is doing what he wants to do, apparently — helping out the queer community. That's enough to make him want to say yes.

"Its cool if you don't wanna," Marco says gently. Ace shakes his head.

"Its not that I don't wanna, I do. Parents and me are weird, is all."

"Nah, I gotcha. We can skip it."

"No, its okay. I think I'd like to meet the head of the queer illuminati."

Marco laughs and wheels the car around.


	4. Moonsetter

woo i'm a bit late on this, feels like. i hope you guys like this chapter even though it took so long! your reviews are my strength.

* * *

Haruta is around, of course, as they often are. They're wrapped in the afghan off of the back of the couch when they answer the door, a big grin on their face. They almost always treat visits as if they're the first ones in a long stretch of time, instead of a multi-weekly thing. _Tell me how you've been_, they'll say with a hug. Marco likes that about them.

"Hey, Marco! Who's your friend … ?"

"His name's Ace."

They file inside the home. Ace carries himself inside with a little bit of trepidation; maybe this large house and the bouncy sister and all of the decorations are overwhelming.

"Ace! Hi, I'm Haruta. If you're looking for Pops, he stepped out for a bit."

"Oh. Damn." Marco slumps his shoulders a little, "I guess we can just hang out with you then. Anyone else around?"

"Oh, jeez! You make it sound like a chore to be with me." Haruta begins slap fighting at Marco, who responds in kind, albeit with lazy movements, "Izo and Thatch are around, but … Y'know."

Marco rolls his eyes and bends to pick Haruta up over his shoulder. They kick their feet gently, giggling, while Ace follows them into the living room.

Its a pretty big room, with the biggest couch Ace has ever seen, and a TV to match. Marco gently sets Haruta down on the couch and plops down himself. Ace is just slightly nervous, but he tries not to show it as he sits beside Marco.

"So how did you two meet?" they ask brightly, picking up the remote. They were watching some sort of documentary. Ace pointedly ignores their subtle flirty inflection, opting instead to look at Marco with a loss of what to say.

"He came into the motel a lot." Marco shrugs; he conveniently leaves out the fact that he thought the other was a sex worker, "We just got to talking."

"That's hardly romantic!"

"Who said we're involved like that?" Marco answers. Sure, they've been flirting and talking and Ace thinks the other is pretty cute, but that's a bit much to assume.

"Oh. I guess I just assumed … And don't say that thing about assuming making an ass out of you and me. I'll fight you."

"He pulled that one on me, too." Ace snickers, "Picked on him for it."

"Good. He talks like a teacher sometimes." Haruta is up on their feet again, and Ace wonders if they ever shut down. They go about messing with the TV and some gaming system on the entertainment stand, before the title screen for Mario Kart appears.

"Ah, jeez. Do you really wanna involve the new kid in that?"

"New kid?" Ace mumbles. Marco just sighs.

"Why not? You can learn a ton about someone by how they play Mario Kart!" Haruta chirps. They hand Ace a controller and Ace thinks he might not be able to say no to that grin, even if he wanted to. He's used to playing games with his brothers, anyway.

They remind him a lot of Luffy, and he thinks that they'd probably get along pretty well. Hell, they'd probably get on with Sabo well, too; not that he's difficult to befriend. He's roped into playing this game, with Marco taking on the winner, "even though, like, I can kick his ass".

Ace ends up winning, though Haruta gave it their all. Marco seems both surprised and impressed.

"Seriously, how did you do that? Haruta's mad good at that game."

"I have two little brothers." Ace explains, shrugging, "We settle a lot of shit with video games."

Haruta passes the controller onto Marco, who takes it with a bit of a huff, "Let's do this, I guess."

"Can we make it interesting?" Ace asks.

Marco quirks a brow, but curiosity pulls his lips up in a grin.

"How so?"

"I'll admit that's all I got. I was thinking a bet or something."

Two people enter the room, then, and Ace notices the way they carry themselves first and foremost. They both breeze into the room, the pompadoured one standing taller and cocking his hip out where he stays. The smaller one, black haired and striking, crosses their arms over their chest and lays their eyes on Ace.

They stand close together and Ace averts his gaze after a moment, looking towards Marco.

"Winner gets a kiss." says the one with the pompadour. His companion elbows him in the ribs a little.

"From who?" Marco asks.

"_You_, stud. Who's your friend?" he's all grins, "I'm Thatch and this is Izo."

"Ace. Its nice to meet you." he says politely, trying not to laugh at Marco being called 'stud'. Izo gives him a small wave and a smile, but its apparent that they're less outgoing than Thatch is.

"So you're playing Mario Kart, huh? You kick Haruta's ass already?"

"I did, actually. I'm about to kick Marco's ass, too."

"Probably." Marco sniffs. They start the race while Thatch and Izo seat themselves on the couch. Its chill for most of the race, save for some shouting between the two players and Izo and Thatch talking sotto with Haruta.

Its close, but Ace still wins the race. He throws his hands up in triumph, turning to expect a sour look on Marco's face, but he's smiling. Its a soft sort of smile, amused, and Ace averts his gaze after a moment.

He wonders just why it is that Marco's looking at him like the sun shines out of his ass, but doesn't dwell on it too long.

"Me and Izo next. We got shit to settle." Thatch sticks his hands out and wiggles his fingers towards the controller, "You'll be surprised at how skilled and ruthless he is at the sport."

They go through the evening playing more Mario Kart, some fighting games. Turns out Marco is much better at Mortal Kombat than anyone else, absolutely trouncing the rest of the group. He says he sucks at racing games but fighting is his forte.

They're all pretty chill people, he finds. Izo and Thatch bicker the whole time, and Ace thinks they must be a couple right off the bat. They're cute together despite the never-ending banter; its plain to Ace that Thatch cares a lot for him, given how he looks at him and teases him.

Ace gets a text sometime between matches against Izo.

hey sabo wants to celebrate a good thing that happened

where are you? come home!

He texts Luffy back that he's hanging out with a friend and he'll be back soon.

"Hey, Marco … Would you mind bringing me back home, soon? Sabo wants to celebrate something. No idea what." Ace inquires. Marco agrees.

Its after some good byes and nice to meet yous that Ace and Marco take their leave from the home. Seated in the jeep again, Marco starts it up and goes about taking him home.

"Sorry you didn't get to meet Pops. He's been pretty busy lately."

"Oh, that's okay. I'm sure I'll get to meet him soon." Ace says, but smiles sheepishly, "I mean, if you'll have me."

Marco gives him a bit of an odd look, "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

Ace shrugs and looks out of the window, a different sort of smile pulling up his lips. It was a good time, today, when he thought he was going to be stuck in the house alone. Maybe he's got some new friends that aren't as shitty as the ones he used to run with. The prospect is exciting.

"How'd you like everyone, though? That's not everyone, but you get what I mean."

"Everyone's really nice and welcoming, I liked them." Ace says, nodding his head. That makes Marco nod and grin, too.

"Good. I'm sure you'll like the rest of the squad."

They make conversation casually on the drive home, mostly about how he'd come into the picture with Thatch. The pair had been punks running around doing "hoodrat shit" for a while until Marco got clean and sober, when they both met Whitebeard.

"I'm not quite sure what to consider Thatch, really." he'd said, shaking his head, "He's like a brother and a best friend and … That all doesn't quite fit, at the same time."

Then Izo had come along, with Haruta following shortly thereafter. Rakuyo, Vista, Fossa, Jozu, Curiel, and a couple others were all there before hand, he'd said. Haruta was sixteen and living on the streets until Whitebeard took them in. Their parents weren't so accepting of their identity, of their need to transition to free themself from "truly horrendous dysphoria".

Marco's voice had darkened at that last bit, thunderclouds creeping into his voice. There's stories there, in those clouds, but Ace doesn't dare pry, doesn't ask how bad their dysphoria really is.

Still, he can relate to that.

As they draw closer to Ace's neighborhood and home, the conversation lightens again considerably, carries them all the way home.

He finds Marco to be incredibly sweet and easy to be around. Refreshing, almost, when he was hanging out with the same stale jerks time and time again, starved for company and attention outside of his brothers.

They sit there in silence for a few moments before Ace worries at his lip and acts on impulse.

He kisses Marco's cheek, sure and sweet.

"I know I won the race earlier, but I wanted to give you that anyway. I'll, uh. Text you."

He feels a little heated all of a sudden, wants to make a getaway before he sees Marco's reaction.

Marco grabs at his arm before he can escape, "Hey."

But as he turns, Marco covers Ace's lips with his own, just as gentle as the cheek kiss before. It makes moths flutter just inside his ribcage, makes him shift just out of pure nerves and high. Marco smiles into the kiss, pulls away.

"Go get to your celebration. Tell me how it is."

"Okay. I'll see you later." he's sure his face is burning up; certainly, his insides are on fire. He slides out of the jeep and walks up to the door on his high, waving to Marco just before he pulls out. God save him from the remarks from his brothers about his shit-eating grin.

He does his best to wipe said grin from his face while he kicks his shoes off. Luffy is on him shortly thereafter, however, arms and legs all wrapped around the other and, shit, _how is he so bendy _-

"Whoa, kiddo. Down."

"Sabo and Koala are dating!" he shouts.

From inside the living room, Sabo yells, "_Luffy!_"

"What? I was excited and he was gonna find out anyway!" Luffy pouts, disengaging himself from around his brother to plop back down on the couch. Ace spots a bottle of rum on the coffee table, glasses full of dark liquid. He takes a seat on the other side of Sabo, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

"Is that true, man?"

"Yes." he sounds a little sour at the fact that Luffy spoiled the surprise, but that only lasts for a moment, "She asked me out, actually. But I kissed her first, and uh …"

He's pulling a sheepish look, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.

"You didn't round the bases already, did you?"

"N-no! No, we didn't, I just … I'm still reeling a little, you know?"

He leans forward and takes his glass of rum and coke off the table to drink deeply from it. Ace pours one himself, then clinking his glass against Sabo and Luffy's. They drink together in the name of romance, then drink again in the name of brotherhood.

None of the three are really big drinkers, or anything, but they share glasses once in a while. The journey through the bottle and through the night and through inebriation is filled with stories of their days - mostly Luffy's, as he had quite the adventure with his friends - and lots of laughter.

At some point, Luffy spreads himself out over the both of them, head and arms over Ace's lap and legs stretched across Sabo's.

"I got a kiss today, too." Ace confesses, nods.

"Was it Marco? Does he taste like birdseed?"

"Birdseed, why the fuck would he taste like birdseed?"

"He looks like a bird." Luffy supplies. Ace tugs on his hair again, laughing lowly.

"Yeah, it was Marco. And he didn't taste like birdseed."

This ends up sparking an argument, of course ("Maybe you just don't know what birdseed tastes like!" "Well maybe _you_ should fucking kiss him!"), an argument that Sabo has to cool down. The alcohol laps at their cares, eats away at them like waves on a shoreline.

Similarly, time erodes the night into the quiet, hidden hours between midnight and dawn, and its there that the brothers find sleep.

* * *

Another week passes before Ace goes over to Marco's house for the first time. They've been texting one another near constantly, quickly settling into one another's lives like they were meant to be there. Or maybe it feels like they were friends a long time ago who are just picking up again. Marco sends him good morning texts when he gets off work, and Ace calls him on days off.

Its nice, Marco thinks. Its only been a little while, but they're pretty comfortable with one another.

It would have been sooner that Ace had come over to Marco's, but he'd been so busy with bringing Sabo and Luffy here and there, running errands for Dadan, seeing this friend and that one. Pretty typical week, all in all, and it always leaves Ace feeling just a little tired.

Marco seats himself next to Ace on the couch, turns up the stereo a little.

"So Sabo's been pretty much up his girlfriend's ass." Ace shrugs, by way of conversation, sipping at his drink.

"Whoa, man, didn't need to know that about your brother." Marco holds his hands up in jest and Ace elbows him in the ribs.

"You know what I mean."

"Eh, it happens. I'm sure he'll come back around to you in time, gotta learn how to balance that kind of thing, you know?"

"I guess. I'm probably getting too clingy after a week of him being absent, but we've been really tight since we were kids." he admits, "So … Y'know. Even Luffy has been pretty cagey lately, but …"

Marco nods, presses his lips together in a tight line. He seems to weigh his words.

"From what I heard, it sounds like you guys have been through too much together to just fall apart like that. And its only been a week."

He does have the propensity to catastrophize at times, especially with stuff like this. Chalks it up to being brainweird; sometimes still, its hard to detect what's badbrain and what isn't. Its nice to have someone to be able to pick and pull apart the dark spots, to help him see something from an objective standpoint.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just being whiny."

"Nope, not whiny. You have a legitimate concern, and you're all right with that and in voicing it."

Ace bows his head a little, in thought and in thanks, "Thank you, Marco."

"No problem. Wouldn't wanna see you bummed and - hey, listen to this part."

They listen to this part indeed, the crescendo of the music that he's put on. Chorus music, which is weird, but its honestly a beautiful song. The rise and swell and twist of voice gives him chills.

"What is this?"

"Frightened Rabbit. Their music isn't normally like this, but this song has always been one of my favorites."

They fall into a discussion about music, a discussion they both get into animatedly. Some of their music taste overlaps, but mostly they're unfamiliar with the others' choice in tunes. As most of their conversation does, it morphs into something else, finds them at a completely different topic entirely.

The visit is mostly just that - talking - and its nice. They bullshit their way through a movie and its in watching that that Ace tips his head back against the couch and falls asleep. Marco debates on taking a picture for prosperity, to show him how ridiculous he looks when he sleeps, but decides against it.

He gets a text when he's getting up to go to the kitchen, a text that makes his heart drop in his chest.

harutas freaking out and thatch is at work  
are you around? they want you here

He texts Jozu back quickly.

On my way.

And he's gently shaking Ace awake, regretfully. He'd let the other sleep there until he woke up of his own accord, if he could, but there's more pressing matters pulling his heart and mind home. Ace rubs at his eyes and, shit, he's _cute_, and he's sitting up.

"Aw, shit. I'm sorry …"

"Its fine. I gotta get to Haruta at Pops' place, they're in a rough way. I feel like a dick for this, but do you mind uh … Heading home?"

"Oh, no, not at all. You're fine. I hope Haruta is feeling better." he says, bleary. He moves up to his feet yawns, stretches. Marco's grabbing the necessities, figuring its their gender dysphoria, wondering how he's going to bring them out of this.

They part there, Ace going into his truck and Marco into his jeep, with a promise to text one another once Haruta is feeling better.

When Ace gets back to Dadan's, there's no one there.

Typical, lately. Everyone has places to be.

He feels bummed at this almost immediately, sinking onto his bed and curling up. He feels better when there's someone around to need him and want his company, hence why he thrives so well taking care of his little brothers. But now he's the only one closed in the jaws of the house, and that doesn't feel too nice.

He can't quite put a finger on how this makes him feel, exactly. Ace does not despair over this, and nor does he leap at the prospect of being alone. He simply is, simply commits himself to video games because there's nothing else to do at all. It serves as a nice distraction, all in all.

Sabo and Luffy both traipse back in sometime after Dadan does, but they traipse in together. Ace worries at his lip.

"Oh, hey." Sabo greets, genuine smile. He plops down next to Ace on the floor.

"Hey. What's good?" Ace asks, bonks his head into his younger brother's. Luffy finds his way there too, yawning greatly. Must've been a big adventure today, to tire him out like that.

"I took Koala around, today. That girl can _eat_."

Ace wiggles his eyebrows and Sabo laughs, pulls at his hair, "Shut the fuck up."

"Usopp and Sanji and me went swimming, we should go swimming." Luffy tips over, wiggles in place because he can never stop moving, "How was Marco's? Did you kiss again?"

"No, but. It was fine. He's pretty good to talk to."

"Do you liiiiike him? I mean, you must."

Ace considers the question.

Marco is sweet and funny and interesting and he has good hair. And he loves his family very much. All good qualities to have in a person. He kissed him sweetly, said he liked his company, said he'd like to have him around, more. And Ace thinks he'd like to be around him more, too.

"I might be starting to." he says evenly.

"That's gay!"

"That's the fucking point."

In their bickering, Ace finds that he doesn't feel so empty anymore. And that's a little worrying - why does he only exist when he's around people? Why can't he just … Be? Loneliness isn't a cross he can comfortably bear, whenever it comes that he has to shoulder it.

But for now, he has his brothers, and that's all that matters to him.


	5. What I Saw

its been a while but we're here off the unannounced hiatus. hope you like it fam.

* * *

He finds himself back at Marco's the next day, bereft of brothers. Luffy left for Zoro's and Sabo took off with Robin much earlier in the day, leaving Ace grumpy and feeling purposeless. Marco texted him and apologized for the last time, stating that Haruta is now fine. It leaves Ace a little curious, wondering exactly what happened, but that is not his family and that is not his business.

With a slightly sour mood, Ace seats himself on the couch beside Marco.

Marco waves his fingers at Ace in a slightly ridiculous gesture that makes him grin, "Bad vibes today?"

"How could you tell?" Ace asks, genuinely confused. He always thought he'd been adept at covering up said bad vibes when he didn't want them broadcasted. Marco shoots the other a smile and a shrug.

"Your face. Look a little far away. What's up?"

He says this and prods Ace to talk about it, and doesn't once sound anything less than concerned. Its nice to have; his current friends are usually the types to just downplay his problems or to wait for their own turns to talk. Even so …

"I don't know, more brother shit. Kinda stuff we talked about last time, but I'd rather forget about it for now." he says, "Thank you, though."

"Yeah, no problem. You're all right otherwise?"

Ace quite suddenly adjusts himself, legs hanging over the side of the couch and head in Marco's lap to face the TV. It makes him laugh lowly, reaching down to toy with his hair.

"Now I am. If this is okay."

"Absolutely."

They lay like that, in silence, for a while. Ace goes back to thinking how nice it is to be in a shared silence with someone, a shared silence he can exist in instead of one by his lonesome. He feels like a ghost like that, a shell of a person.

Ace notes that its after the marathon that Marco asks.

"Do you wanna make out?"

Casual, a little hopeful. Just like that. Ace takes the time to wiggle around to his back; he thinks he would like to, very much. Is everything going to be this comfortable with him … ?

"Yeah." he answers, nods.

"C'mere."

Ace stands from the couch then, but only to straddle Marco's lap, the moths behind his ribcage going wild. Marco is all grins, placing his hands comfortably on Ace's thighs. He brings his hands up to cup his cheeks before kissing him just as sweetly as they did before. It feels good to kiss Marco, to sit in his lap, to touch him.

Its a little messy, tongue and teeth and quiet snickers, but that's to be expected when they're just figuring one another out. Its certainly been a while since Ace made out with anyone, but this is good. Marco kisses like questions - is this okay, do you like that, can you give me more? And Ace meets him with answers.

Its when Marco moves to Ace's neck with a gentle bite and a smirk into the skin that a moan rolls out of him. And its when his hips seem to rock forward of their own accord, sweet burn between his legs, that the door opens.

"Yo, Marco, answer your fucking - HAHA, FUCK."

Ace gets off from Marco's lap quicker than shit, seating himself on the couch with his eyes trained on his lap. Marco sighs, raises his hand in greeting to both the grinning Thatch and the older, absolutely massive gentleman by his side.

"Did you forget we were coming over? I tried to text you like, eight times."

"Phone's in the bedroom. I was a bit, uh …" Marco gestures, presses his lips in a line, "Making out with Ace."

Ace scrunches his shoulders and the older man makes a low, rumbly sort of laugh - gurarara.

"This the boy you told me about?" he asks, voice gruff with amusement. Ace feels very much like he'd like to disappear. Thatch just whistles lowly and carts his twelve pack of Rolling Rock to the kitchen, shimmying his shoulders as he goes.

"Get it, Marco, get it, get it-"

"Yes, pops. And Thatch, shut the fuck up."

"Make me, stud!"

Pops? _Fuck_.

This is the patriarch that Ace wanted to meet, _right fucking here_, and he was caught moaning like a slut on his son's lap. At least there's no screaming, no throwing of fists. Just incredible embarrassment. He can live with that.

Maybe.

Whitebeard extends his hand, "I'm Edward Newgate. You can call me Pops or Whitebeard."

Ace stands up to take his hand in a shake, absolutely dwarfed, making sure to make eye contact, "I'm Ace. Its … Nice to meet you, sir."

"I didn't say 'sir', son, I said Pops or Whitebeard."

"Right. Whitebeard, then."

Their eyes meet, and Ace wonders if he's always that gruff. If they're going to butt heads. He seems like a strong personality already …

Thatch comes out of the kitchen again, puts a beer in Ace and Whitebeard's hands. Ace pops it open immediately and sits down beside Marco again. He's the only one not drinking, of course, but he doesn't seem bothered by the alcohol in the room. Whitebeard sits in the arm chair and takes the remote, flipping it onto some sports game.

Marco slings his arm over Ace's shoulders, casual. The gesture seems to say that its ok, that nothing has been made weird over being walked in on, for anyone. His shoulders slacken just the slightest, he moves in closer to the other.

"What do you do, Ace?" Whitebeard asks suddenly.

_Smoke pot and hang out with my brothers._

"I'm between jobs right now." he responds, takes a deep swig of Rolling Rock.

"That's a foul." Whitebeard says that at the TV, but turns again to Ace with his grin and grumbly laugh, "How far between?"

"Couple months." at least its genuinely not a lie, even if he does feel shitty about it, "I make due."

"Maybe you can get him a job at the motel, Marco." Thatch pipes up, "Y'know, so you can make out on the job."

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut the fuck up before you actually listen to me?"

"Ya gotta make me, killer."

Marco makes a noise like 'hn' and shrugs, "Probably wouldn't be hard to find you a job though, honestly. Got connections at a lot of places."

"The queer illuminati is a truly wonderful thing."

"Queer illuminati?" Whitebeard asks, to Marco's laughter.

"I started calling the fam that and it kinda … Caught on, I guess."

"That sure is a name for it."

Thatch begins to rattle off a list of alternate names for the "fam", starting with Gays on Parade. Ace pays more attention to the conversation around him than the baseball game on TV, listening to the back-and-forth between the trio. Its funny, its interesting. He doesn't mind so much just listening.

"Fuck, I think the Packers just got a hole in one." Thatch says, conversationally, and Ace nearly spits out his beer in his laughter. Marco catches onto it and snickers himself.

There's a spectacular play by the Yankees an inning later, a play that makes even the typically sports-indifferent Ace sit forward. Everyone sits forward, in fact, beers in hand and eyes widened like a flock of owls.

When the play is finished Marco and Thatch high five and the latter yells, "GOOOOOAL!"

It makes Ace laugh again, hard, covering his face and shaking his shoulders. When he finally gets over the laughing fit, he looks over at Marco. The other is affording him a fond look, smile reaching his eyes, though he holds it briefly before turning back to the television.

He feels warm in his core at the look, at Marco's presence.

The game trudges onward, leaving the Yankees with a win against the Red Sox. Whitebeard, Thatch, and Marco all seem satisfied. Ace himself certainly enjoyed their company. Even as the three of them launch into a discussion about family and queer politics that Ace seems outside of, he sits and observes, prefers it over the crude language of his other friends.

Its after they chill for a couple hours more that Ace finds himself at home again, tired, opting to crash in his bedroom instead of shooting the shit with Dadan and her merry band of assholes. He thinks about the day, about Whitebeard and Thatch and especially Marco.

Whitebeard did quite a bit of observing towards the end, seemed like, slowly slogging his way through a couple beers and chiming in here and there. Thatch was much more talkative, gesticulating with his hands and picking on Marco, who gave it right back to him. It was a nice time, but he finds his mind wandering back to when he was seated on Marco's lap.

That was good. Very good, even, though the asking about it was a little abrupt. He doesn't figure it'll happen any time soon, but he thinks about going further with Marco. Marco coaxing moans out of him, teeth and lips on his neck, or Ace kissing his way down his chest, and -

He rolls over to face the wall and stare at it.

Its been a while since he's fucked anybody, though God knows the urges are still there. He considers carefully his last fuck, and it makes his guts sink.

"Don't tell anyone this happened," he'd said, zipping up his pants and looking back at Ace on the bed, "Okay?"

Ace had averted his gaze and picked a cigarette off of the night stand.

"Ace."

"Yes, okay, I won't tell anyone. _Fuck_." he shot back. He left shortly thereafter, leaving Ace feeling utterly hollow and alone.

Now the prospect of someone else … That's at once safe to consider as well as nervewracking. There's just a whirlwind of emotions, there, a whirlwind that he's too tired to skirt the edges of. He feels the anxiety and shame of his past fucks above all else.

He just wants to sleep, but it doesn't find him for a while. In the meantime, he occupies himself with inane sites on his phone - facebook, a seldom-used twitter. He gets about three hours of rest before Luffy is knocking and entering his room.

"Hey, wanna pull an all nighter with me and everyone? Sabo's ma and dad left unexpectedly, so its a party at his place. You can bring who you want."

"Hell yeah, I do." he says groggily, making Luffy laugh as his sleepy enthusiasm. Ace takes a couple moments to get ready, brushing out his hair and the sleep-taste from his mouth. A couple of Luffy's friends are in the living room - Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Nami. The rest will show up, undoubtedly.

Ace considers who to bring, if anyone. Definitely not his cis friends, as they're absolutely unbearable. Bonney he hasn't seen in a while; he considers her his best friend, but she's only just got off of vacation from Italy with her girlfriend a couple days prior. Still, he texts her, asks her if she's free. Opts out on Marco, as he's probably too busy or something. He doesn't want to get too clingy, either, and they had just seen one another.

Bonney texts back an affirmative, says she'll meet him at Sabo's if she gets directions.

So off they go, in Sanji's car, cruising down the street to 80's tunes that Zoro complains about. The two of them bicker as they go. Ace finds that it feels pretty good to be among more people, and the prospect of a crowd and booze is exciting.

The house is on the nice side of town, naturally. Spacious enough for a house party, certainly, but at least this is a small gathering. Sanji parks, and the crew files out and into the house. When they enter, Sabo is seated on the counter with a glass of wine, Robin and Koala in front of him.

"You look like a tool, grab a fucking beer."

"Its my mom's." is all Sabo says, making Ace reconsider. Sabo motions with his head down to the bottle next to him. "Take a glass, if you want."

So he does, and Sabo hops down with his glass, goes about doling out drinks. There's quite an array of them, and most opt for beer.

Its Luffy who slams his hand against the kitchen counter, "I want to play Kings!"

At some point during the game, Luffy traipses off to the bathroom only to come back about fifteen minutes later with a pirate hat perched on his head. He's all proud grins, a slight sway in his step, plopping down on his chair.

"Where the fuck did you get that?" Zoro asks.

"I am the Pirate King." Luffy says, helpfully.

Ace polishes off his bottle with a roll of his eyes, goes to get another from the fridge. He doesn't feel drunk or even buzzed, yet, just some sort of warmth in his limbs, like a preamble. There's music playing from the corner, something that Usopp put on after Sanji and Zoro kept bickering about tunes.

Its when he pops open his next beer that Bonney and Perona enter the house from the kitchen door, carting a couple bottles of what appears to be vodka. Bonney looks far more tan, brighter in general, smile spread across her face at seeing Ace. She pulls him into a hug and Perona just blinks up at him when she pulls away.

"Hey, great to see you. We're playing Kings, if you want in."

"Oh, fuck yes, I do, but I have to tell you about Italy."

She wiggles her eyebrows and then goes to dig through the cupboards looking for shot glasses, "So, like, have you ever gone on a wine tasting thing? Like, at a vineyard? Perona dragged me to it."

"This one kept swallowing the wine instead of spitting it out." Perona sighs.

"Listen." Bonney says, without explaining further, and goes to pour out three shots of vodka.

"I'm listening." Perona sniffs, making Ace laugh. They've always had a great back and forth.

They've been partners since sometime in the middle of sophomore year for them all, bonding over the hordes of people who comment on their pink hair whenever they shared classes together. Ace finds Perona good and snarky at points, calmly kind at others.

Bonney hands out the shots and clinks her glass together with the other two, before they all down them.

"Anyway, yeah, I didn't get tanked or anything-"

"Yes, you did."

"Just because I asked to make my own wine right then and there does not mean I was tanked!"

The pair keeps bickering with Ace chiming in here and there, laughing mostly, taking shot after shot. The game in the dining room is utterly neglected, and as they finish shot number four, Sabo rounds into the kitchen.

"What are you doing in here … ? Hey Bonney, Perona."

They nod their greetings and Bonney shakes the bottle of vodka at Sabo, grinning wicked, and he regards it with a contemplative sort of look.

"We should play battle shots." he sniffs.

This is the sentence, the very suggestion, that does them all in.

* * *

Ace is throbbing, head and core.

Exhaustion settles in his limbs and makes them heavy while he drags himself from Sanji's car into the house, a hungover Luffy in tow. They'd finished off the night by passing out in a big pile in the living room to Rush Hour 2, for some reason. And they started off the morning groaning and complaining and cleaning.

So he sinks onto the couch, simply by virtue of it being closer, and watches Luffy trudge off to his own bedroom looking very much like a zombie.

Ace proceeds to conk out for a couple hours, feeling slightly more square upon waking up. Still, he doesn't dare move so as to not upset the lingering headache wrapped around his brain, nor the nausea coursing through his guts.

A text rolls in from Marco, waking him up.

You alive?

Ace replies with an affirmative;

yeah but barely

He doesn't really want Marco to see him like this; he could probably smell the sick and the vodka coming off of him like axe on a teenage boy.

Barely? What's up?

His fingers come down slow on the keyboard.

hungover there was a party at sabos  
last night and we went a bit hard

Ace wonders briefly if any of that would trigger something in Marco, but quickly comes to the conclusion that, no, it wouldn't; he seemed to be just fine when they were drinking beer right in front of him the day before.

I see. Do you need anything?

He worries at his lip a little, pausing in contemplation. Yes, he needs a shower and a pain pill or two, but again, he's not so sure if he's presentable, like this. He drags himself from the couch to the bathroom at a slow shuffle much like Luffy's.

probably yeah

x

I got you. I'm an expert at hangovers.  
Can I come over?

x

yeah im just gonna shower really quick  
so i dont smell like vodka covered ass

After getting a "haha, on my way" he clambers into the tub and washes away the sins of the night prior, off his body and out of his mouth. The spray of water feels good on him, and so does the clean feeling once he's out.

He doesn't feel like he looks presentable even after changing into clean clothes and drying his hair off. Sometimes it feels like his binder just doesn't do its job, makes him feel disgusting and wrong. Pushing the thought from his mind, he scurries as quick as he can to his room.

Just as he's coming out of his room to wait, there's a ring of the doorbell, so he goes to open it.

Marco stands there, toting a bag of McDonald's and something from Walgreens both. He quirks an eyebrow and steps inside as he's then bid. Ace is happy to see him again, even if he feels like utter shit and probably looks like it.

"You look better than you let on."

"Do I?" he snorts, leading Marco into the living room, "Do you want the tour or do you just wanna take care of my hungover ass?"

"Tour is cool, if you can manage. Dunno if you feel faint."

Ace smiles at him a bit; he looks better than Ace does, certainly, though his face carries a bit of a bored expression. That's just typical, though.

"Well! This is the living room. That right there is a bona fide fucking boombox from the 90's, I think that thing's tough as nails. I'll probably beg Dadan to let me keep it when I finally move out."

Marco laughs, "It still works? That's incredible."

He walks to the kitchen, gesturing inside.

"Like a fucking Nokia. Anyway, here's the kitchen, where I spend most of my time. We used to do family dinners here but that sort of fell apart, for some reason." Ace shrugs.

"Dining room, long hallway we used to slide down on parchment paper. Bathroom, basement, Luffy's room, then Dadan's. And this is mine." he points in turn to each room once they traipse down the hall, stopping at the end, "I think its a bit messy, but."

"That's fine."

He pushes open the door and slowly walks inside. There's band posters up on the wall, pictures and ticket stubs on the corkboard next to the open window. The pictures are of him and Bonney, him and high school friends, his brothers. There's a desk, a dusty bookshelf, a disheveled bed with a nest of blankets proper.

Ace pushes the blankets aside over the pillows and takes a seat, "This is the cave."

"Not too messy, but it looks lived in." he comments, examining the pictures on the corkboard, "You look happy in these."

"Do I not look happy otherwise?"

Marco laughs a little, like he's lost something, "I haven't seen you that happy before. Look."

Pulling the picture of him with a pink-haired girl and some blonde he doesn't recognize, he looks over it again. The three of them are laughing, beers and cigarettes in hand, lights bright behind them.

Ace adopts a fond smile as he takes the picture, ensconced in reverie. After a moment, "Yeah. That was a really good night."

"Is there a story behind it?" he asks, settling beside Ace. Ace hums in his thought.

"Yeah. That's Roci and Bonney right there, but we were with Perona and Shirahoshi, too. Can't remember who took the pic, but anyway we got a hotel downtown in Sabaody." he tells him, "Drinking out of open containers on our way from the hotel to this twenty-three hour diner that Roci knew. Some vegan joint with bangin' milkshakes and cupcakes. It wasn't particularly eventful, but it was fun. I think Perona was drinking out of a bottle of wine."

"That sounds fun." he says, wistfulness touching his tone just slightly, "Used to do shit like that with Thatch."

"Ah, sorry if that bothered you …" Ace mumbles.

Marco smiles, offers the bags to Ace, "Don't worry about it. I got you some greasy food and chocolate, Tums and Nyquil just in case."

"Thank you, Marco." he says, bonks his head against Marco's shoulder, "That means a lot."

"No problem. I know how much it sucks." he shrugs, "You'll probably want to get into a Nyquil nap soon if its that bad."

"I think I'll be okay." he doesn't say now that you're here, but he thinks it, "Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Work, after I pay some bills." Marco sighs, "So I should get going soon … but if you need anything else before I go to work let me know, okay?"

"I don't want to inconvenience you any more. You've already done so much."

He pulls Ace a bit closer and kisses his forehead, "I don't think its that much, but … I'm glad to help."

Warmth and sunshine spreads through Ace's stomach, waking up the moths.

Its then that Marco leaves, throwing a quick good bye over his shoulder with a smile. Ace finds himself feeling bereft, or something like it, and that's strange to him.

Its nice, though, that fluttering in his stomach. He'd like to have Marco's company more, his kisses and attention and affection.

Ace slowly manages to get through the McDonald's, taking a strange-tasting dose of Nyquil at the end of it. As he goes, he finds himself with his mind wandering.

Not long after falling into daydreaming and wonder, he's resolved to ask Marco out on a date. Where exactly, he doesn't know. The very thought puts a grin on his face, anyway.

* * *

Marco's bills are paid and his gas tank full and car cleaned. He rolls into work feeling productive and awake, though the latter point might just be because of sucking down a monster.

Work starts out dead, as it always does. Its fine and peaceful and he gets some reading done, until the door opens and Thatch comes striding through. He slaps his hand down on the counter with a grin, leans on it some.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

Marco just looks him over.

"Probably gonna chill and smoke all day, why?"

"I wanted to come over tonight, yeah? House sit and eat all your food 'til you get there. Bring the new kid if he wants to come."

Thatch is up to something. He can hear it in his tone and see it on his smile. What it is, Marco has no clue. He never has a clue, in fact, until its too late and Thatch is doing some off the wall shit. He eyes Thatch warily, but eventually nods.

"Yeah, no problem. You're not gonna smoke all my weed again, though. You better match."

"I'm good for it. I'll let myself in, so you tell Ace to come over. Izo isn't home and I don't like being this fucking lonely, you know what I mean?"

"Any particular reason why you want the new kid there so bad?" Marco asks. Thatch's smile spreads wider and he looks down at the counter, palm still spread on it.

"Hazing."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that, but all right, I'll tell him. You better be nice."

"I'll treat him real good, don't you worry."

Marco squints. That sounds a bit suggestive, but Thatch probably figures that Marco likes Ace, and Marco knows for a fact that he wouldn't infringe on that. He's probably just going to grill him a little bit.

But then Thatch is leaving after telling him, "later", and Marco is waiting. He'll get out in the morning and probably wake up the two of them when he gets there. Odd as Thatch's hidden plans are, it'll be good.

He hopes, anyway.


	6. Problems

god i'm. the world's slowest updater. i'm so sorry, guys, and i'm even more sorry for the cliffhanger! i hope you enjoy.

* * *

Ace feels nervous and a bit jittery on his way to Marco's home. There was a bit of sardonic amusement in Marco's tone over the phone, when he told Ace to head over his place and hang with Thatch. He liked Thatch plenty, especially after hearing Marco's stories about him and especially the soft sort of voice just laden with affection when regarding him. He's nice and seems fun, but the fact that he was _requested _just gives him a bit of anxiety.

He parks the truck and lights a smoke, bringing it down to the bust before he hops down and bounces in. Walking through the door as he was told, Thatch is bustling around the kitchen, humming along to some music playing from his phone and mixing something.

Thatch smiles in a way that reaches his eyes when he turns around to see Ace, "Hey, what's up. Marco was called in, so its just you and me for a bit."

"Oh, okay. That's fine." Ace says.

"Grab a beer, if you want. I'm just making cake, 'cause I had this real bad craving for yellow cake with chocolate frosting, you know?" he says. Ace notes that he has his hair back, today, pulled into a bun at the back of his head.

"Oh, word. Can I help any?" Ace reaches into the fridge to grab one of the green bottles, popping it open and swigging.

"I need two cups of powdered sugar in that bowl over there, if you wanna do the frosting." he says, changes stride, "You seem a bit jittery."

"Jesus, you and Marco can read me like an open book or something." he says sourly, but goes to find the powdered sugar, "And you, like, just met me."

"Pay attention to how you're walking, buddy, you look like a cat with its fur all puffed out. Any reason why?"

"Dunno." he shrugs. Thatch hums a bit, telling Ace that he knows its bullshit, that he does know what's putting a shake in his step.

Ace measure out the powdered sugar, dumping it all in the bowl. He opens his mouth and closes it. Thatch notices, fills the silence.

"When I was little, my ma insisted that I make everything from scratch. Old fashioned stick-up-her-ass kind of lady, yeah?" he snorts and shakes his head a bit, but there's fondness there, "So she'd probably be flipping her shit if she saw me with this mix."

"Hey, at least the frosting is from scratch."

"Put in a cup of cocoa and a bit of vanilla, like half a tablespoon." he instructs. He's pouring the cake batter into a pan, "She'd be like, 'Thaaaatch at least pretend like I raised you decent and make that cake the right way'."

Thatch says it with a voice that makes Ace snicker, and he goes about doing as he'd told him. Ace is glad that he's easy to talk to, that he's leading the conversation. He finishes off the frosting with Thatch's instructions.

"Dadan - my guardian - was never really like that, I guess. Sometimes we did nice things like that together, but … Eh. Its more common that I do that with my brothers."

"Brothers, huh?"

"Yup. Marco asked me about 'em, too." he tells Thatch what he told Marco, pretty much. That Luffy and Sabo mean a lot to him, that they're also huge nerds. Thatch had hopped up on the counter with his beer, listening, while the cake bakes.

"Love a family man, honestly. Hits me right here." he thumps a fist against his chest, "Real important to me."

"Yeah, Marco told me as much."

Thatch snickers around the rim of his bottle, swallowing some before saying, "You mention him a lot already. You like him?"

"No offense, but you sound like a middle schooler." he goes, "But am I that transparent?"

He looks down at his feet, small grin spread out.

"Yeah, a bit." Thatch says, "But, hey, we don't have to talk about this if you don't wanna. I'm pretty much a stranger. However,"

He holds up a finger and continues, "There are better ways to get to know a person than grilling one another about crushes and what-have-you."

"Such as?"

"Smoking a bowl, my dude, smoking a bowl. You can learn _loads _about a person by their smoking rituals and slang and how they are when they're high."

Thatch hops down and Ace follows him into Marco's living room, where they both sink into the couch. Ace thinks that Thatch is a funny sort of guy, someone who probably tells amazing stories, someone who makes the most mundane happenings sound like hilarious adventures. He respects that a lot. He's leaning forward to pick apart the bud over the coffee table, tongue sticking out.

"I don't have anything to throw down." Ace admits.

"Its cool, I got you." Thatch affords him a funny sort of smile, like he's impressed with something that Ace can't figure out, "You get greens. If I can get this thing fucking packed."

"You're a gentleman."

"_And_ a scholar."

Once the bowl is packed, Thatch hands that and a lighter off to Ace. They trade hits for a bit in silence and finally sit back against the couch. Thatch then fills that silence with idle chatter about it ( "Bongs or bowls?" ).

"One time, Sabo and I tried to make green dragon. He was so insistent on it, like. He has this weird thing with dragons. So we did everything right, it took like a couple weeks for it to turn the right color." Ace gestures with his hands, high creeping up on him, "So me and Sabo drink it, Luffy wasn't interested. We were waiting for it to hit, and when it did we were just …"

He laughs, "Gone? Like, we tried watching a couple movies, had no idea what was going on. Same thing when we tried to play Gauntlet. Luffy actually has a couple videos of us trying to play."

"Oh man, I've never actually tried that stuff. Now I wanna make it."

Just as he had with Marco, Ace and Thatch take one another through stories of similar exploits. The conversation comes easily to them, even after cake, and Ace feels most of his trepidation fade away as they go.

They go about their day in such a manner, talking through movies and a serious case of the munchies - madness of two.

Marco arrives some time in the evening.

He opens the door a bit hard and closes it a bit harder and strides into the living room. Looking absolutely beat, he looks between the two seated on the couch and settles on Thatch.

"Can I talk to you privately?" it comes out a bit more like a demand than a polite request, and it makes hot dread drop in Ace's stomach. Thatch furrows his brows some and stands to comply. They then take the short walk into Marco's bedroom, door shut tight behind them.

The next couple minutes are absolute _agony_ for Ace.

_They're talking about me. I know they are. They hate me and they're going to yell at me and make fun of me -_

He picks at his cuticles in a nervous sort of way, staring down hard at his lap, eyes wide and unfocused, unseeing. Ace zones out like this, thinking a horrible and anxious mantra of 'they hate me they hate me they hate me' until they come out.

When they do, Marco runs a hand through his hair as he stands there a couple yards away and sighs.

"Were you guys talking about me?" Ace blurts out before he can stop himself, and Marco gives him a funny look.

"No. Sorry about that, I'm just." he sighs again, and everything about his countenance screams 'rough day', "Not really good right now."

"Can I … Ask what's wrong?" comes his voice, and Marco looks to the side, towards Thatch. Thatch shifts his weight over one hip, putting a hand on that same hip. If Marco's appearance says rough day, then Thatch's says anxiety to match. That's a bit unexpected, in a guy like him; he, who seems so easy going, so roll-with-the-punches.

"Bad day. Really bad day, really fucking …" Marco runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head, "I'll be ok, I just wanna get out of here. You can come if you want, we're going out."

Ace lets it sink in, sucks on his lip a little.

"Sure." he wants to see Marco better, wants to hear from his own mouth why he's feeling bad, "Where are we going?"

Thatch takes over, "This little hole-in-the-wall diner. Owner is queer illuminati, name's Namur. Wanna get going?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me." Ace says, and he stands to follow the two. Marco walks ahead of them and still seems sour, a bit antsy. Ace falls into alignment with them, continuing to pick at his cuticles to broadcast his nervousness. Despite this very nervousness, something stays his legs in time with the other two. Concern, some sort of protectiveness that seems a little surprising.

Its a flurry of emotions all clattercrash in his brain that makes him want to sit down.

He lights a cigarette in Thatch's car; Marco sits in the back with Ace, which makes the former laugh. Thatch does not see Marco grasp Ace's hand in his own, squeezing it tightly momentarily.

This sets a lot of Ace's fears and trepidation at ease; all the same, that worry claws out from the inside of his chest, "You're gonna be ok?"

"Yeah." he sticks his fingers out towards Ace, a wordless request for the cigarette, "I mean. I got called in, and there was a trashed room I had to clean up for starters, and someone got hurt in our bathroom. Ambulances. Threatened to sue. Owner yelled at me for both of those things for about … twenty minutes?"

"Fuck, dude." Ace goes, "That blows."

"Tell me about it. I've been out of it and kind of anxious all day as baseline and that just topped it all off and I got … Worse, and wanted to relapse." he makes a motion like knocking back a shot, laughs, "Still do."

"Nope!" Thatch chirps, "Not an option, dude."

Thatch turns a right on red and keeps cruising.

"I know, Thatch." Marco murmurs, touching gently an emotion that Ace can't quite place. Its soft and quiet and maybe just a little regretful.

"Well … I'm here. Not sure if that counts as some sort of comfort for you, though." Ace grins wry and Marco squeezes his hand again, hands him back the cigarette. Don't be silly, his look says.

"Of course it is. I'm glad you're here, Ace."

"Are you two being gay back there?" Thatch asks, loudly.

"Shut the fuck up."

They end up bickering the whole ride there, and there's something in this bickering that Ace finds both hilarious and … homey. It reminds him of himself and his own brothers.

Its nice to see Marco's mood picking up even just a little bit, anyway.

They drive down through the town to the neighboring one, all evening-sleepy once its been run through from rush hour traffic. Thatch parks along the sidewalk once they get there; there's a strip along the road maybe ten stores and such long. The diner has an odd don't-see-that-every-day sort of name - Coral Hill.

The three climb out of the car and inside the place. Its busy, but not filled to capacity, but once the rather large man behind the counter sees them he raises a hand in greeting.

"I'll be there in a minute, guys." he calls.

The cute waitress smiles at the trio, "Hi Marco, Thatch. Who's your friend?"

"I'm Ace. Its a pleasure to meet you." he sticks out his hand for a handshake, which she returns.

"Caimie! And likewise. I'll show you to your seats."

She takes their drink orders once they're seated, and shortly thereafter the man from behind the counter comes to greet them. Ace introduces himself again, and the other does as well; his name is Namur.

"This the guy I heard about, then." Namur says and he nods, slight smile. Ace looks between Marco and Thatch and matches Namur's smile.

"Yeah, guess so. Its nice to meet you, I'm Ace."

"Namur. Hope you're taking care of my brothers just fine."

"I like to think I am. They're taking care of me too, so." Ace says, and the other two laugh. Thatch winks at Ace once their eyes meet and the latter of the two shrinks a little where he sits, a flush coming to his cheeks.

"All right, sounds good to me. I'll be seeing you at Pops' place, right?" He asks Ace, but looks from him to Marco thereafter.

"Don't see why not, if Ace wants to go."

"Oh. I'd like that, I think." Ace says, nods.

"Right. I look forward to it. I better get back in, though; there's a trainee back there who needs help flipping omelets and I don't want a mess on my hands too bad."

"All right, see you, man." Thatch says.

Namur parts from them and Ace rests his elbows on the table (like a heathen). He yawns a little, looks through the menu, which he notices Marco and Thatch abstain from.

"I'm telling you, man. All you need is loaded fries." Thatch tells him, and points.

"Nah. Get one of the wraps."

This makes them start to bicker again, which Ace finds so funny his laughter gives them pause. Its contagious to them, it seems, and when he looks up the both of them are affording him fond looks that make him flush more.

They're nice, he thinks. He's finding that they're probably the kind of crowd he's always really wanted to run with, instead of the pricks he'd befriended before, or his little brothers' friends. Its sort of homey, but its not something he'd tell them. Not yet, feels too early to him. So he stays his tongue and just hopes he can really get to know them both and all.

"Are you feeling any better?" Ace asks, hopeful.

"Some, yeah." Marco says, rubs at the stubble on his chin. "Might be nice to go to the arcade down the block. Like we used to."

"You think that's the best place to go to? Given how we used to be there." Thatch sounds just barely nervous; maybe its more like concerned. Ace wonders what he means, looking towards Marco.

"Its fine. Not gonna trigger anything." Marco enunciates, then glances at Ace, "We used to get fucked up on pills or whatever and just hang out around here like fucking hooligans. Frequented the arcade a lot."

"This guy is a straight _demon_ at DDR. Especially when he's, like, rolling face."

Ace nods, face neutral even though the other two snicker, in that private sort of way. Ace wonders about Marco's past as far as drugs and alcohol. He can't say he doesn't know much about the man, thankfully, but there's still some dark spots that he'd like to be filled in.

Caimie comes back with their drinks and then takes their food orders, and she's off again.

Thatch picks up his phone shortly thereafter and reads what Ace assumes is a text. A grin pulls at his lips and he texts whoever back.

"Izo said Haruta's benefit is in a couple months. He said Haruta's over the moon with it." He says, and he rests his chin on his hand, elbow on the table; his smile is peaceful, thankful, and he closes his eyes for an extra beat, "I'm so happy for them."

"Oh, shit, they finally booked it? Found a good venue?" Marco sounds _excited _and therefore Ace becomes intrigued.

"Yeah, man. It's _happenin'_."

"Benefit?" Ace asks.

"Yeah. Its for their bottom surgery. They've been … Y'know, dysphoric. So this'll be great for them." Thatch's grin spreads wider on his face. Ace is happy for Haruta, too, but in a detached sort of way - oh, good for them.

A part of him, a very small and ugly and dark part of him, pulses jealousy all true and shocking in his chest. He does his best to push it down, swallowing some of his coke.

"I'm really glad, then." He says, relieved that it doesn't come out tasting like a lie.

As they eat, as they talk, and as they subsequently leave, Ace notices that Marco's mood gradually seems to lift.

Ace finds himself happy at that, relieved. Being around people he likes who happen to be pissed off makes him even more anxious, like they're going to reject or snap on him. Its not a pleasant feeling.

Ace walks between them to the arcade, and he considers holding onto Marco's hand again. He doesn't, but finds that the feeling he had when they did hold hands is something he wants to have again. Maybe soon.

When they get inside, Marco makes a beeline right for the Dance Dance Revolution machine, making Thatch laugh out, "Oh no, here we go."

"Wanna go against me? Either one of you?" Marco asks, and Ace volunteers.

"Get ready to get wrecked, Ace." Thatch calls out, and Ace frowns. He's actually pretty _good _at DDR, but …

He does, indeed, get absolutely wrecked. Marco looks entirely zoned out to the game, brows furrowed, eyes trained on the screen, tapping out the rhythm with quick movements. His loss might actually be sort of funny if it weren't so embarrassing. Ace didn't give up during the dance, of course, but Marco was just miles ahead.

"Holy shit, _how_."

"Cocaine." is all Marco says, shoulders coming up in a shrug. Ace just blinks up at the taller man, unsure of what to say that. He snickers, comes to press a kiss to his forehead. Ace feels himself light up like a lantern and he couldn't keep the smile off of his face even if he tried; he looks over to see a smirk on Thatch's features.

"Do you guys wanna play spider stomp? I haven't seen that game in any other arcade, its like fuckin' christmas for me right now." Thatch asks.

The trio hops from game to game, earning tickets and a total collective lift of their moods. Ace turns out to be much better at Tekken than DDR, absolutely tromping the other two, though Thatch sinks shot after shot in the basketball game, and the mastery over this machine is met with loud a loud exclamation of, "GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLL!"

Ace slaps their tickets down on the counter and looks back at Marco and Thatch, "How much candy can we get with this, you think?"

"One metric fuckton."

"Really? I would've thought at least half an assload."

Grinning, Ace just pushes the tickets forward to the slightly incredulous-looking girl behind the counter; she then takes them to put them in the counting machine. Their amount of tickets ends up getting them taffy, light up necklaces, and a couple cheap fabric flowers with cartoonish grins and wires in the stems.

"Good haul, good haul." Marco says, bops Ace on the forehead with his flower as they're all on their way out, "I think … Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better. Gotta thank you both for that."

"No problem."

"Yeah, man, ain't no thing." Thatch goes, bopping Marco in kind, "I'm just glad you're square."

"So, we headed back to my place?" he then asks.

"Don't see why not."

So off they go, and once they're back in the car, Marco seats himself closer to Ace than before. There's a slight smile on his face, all soft and pretty, when he looks at him, and Ace bumps him with his shoulder, laughing lowly under his breath.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he mumbles, and Marco bumps him back, doesn't say anything for a moment.

"I'm just thankful. You didn't have to come with us, and I would have understood if calming me down were to be a bit … Much, but you were there. So thank you, Ace." Marco takes Ace's hand again and he lets him, looking from him down to his lap. He matches Marco's smile, soft and small.

"Its no problem. Really. I'm just glad you're ok."

"Well shit, now, don't mind me." Thatch snorts, "Third wheel doesn't matter, I guess."

"Thatch."

"I'm joking, I'm joking." he says gently, raising a hand in surrender from where he drives. Marco rolls his eyes. Ace doesn't mind the intrusion so much; in fact, he was feeling like he might've been making Thatch uncomfortable, so the interruption is a bit welcome, even if he'd like to be close and touching Marco again …

As they drive, Ace falls into daydreaming again. He's resolved on asking him out on a date, and he thinks tonight might be the night to ask. Where, though, he hasn't figured out yet.

"Dude. Grocery run." Thatch says, out of the blue, looking back to Marco, who just nods.

"Grocery run." repeats Ace.

"Yes, grocery run."

Marco scoffs at Thatch, being unhelpful, and explains, "Its just for munchies. We tend to get in this bind every time we smoke where we get couch-locked and can't fucking move to get to the car and get whatever we're craving."

"Oh. Yeah, all right."

Thatch begins rattling off a list of what he wants exactly, despite having just eaten a little while ago. When Marco calls him out on that fact, he just tells him he worked up an appetite watching Ace's ass get kicked at DDR.

They get to the grocery store shortly thereafter, and Marco takes the cart to lead them through the place. Its nice to do this, Ace decides; he figures most anything with them would be easy and nice.

"Hey. Ice cream cake." Marco says, once they're in the freezer section; a bit of excitement touches his tone.

"Oh, _fuck_ yes." Thatch goes, wiggling his fingers towards the cooler, "Get that oreo one."

"I'm so down."

Marco picks out the oreo cake and places it among the rest of the food, then eyeing over the haul. He looks back towards his companions, shooting a thumbs up.

"Looks good to me. Anything else you guys need, or can we go to checkout?"

"Oh, uh. You guys can go to checkout, I'm gonna run to grab some sushi really quick and I'll come find you." Ace says. Thatch's eyes light up and Marco nods, pushing the cart towards the registers.

"Grab me a california roll too, would you?"

"Of course."

"Thaaaanks, doll."

Ace parts from them to head to the other side of the store, quick pace. Once he gets to the sushi, he picks out what he wants, as well as the california roll for Thatch.

There's a deep voice behind him, though, that makes him turn, "Ace?"

Once he registers who it is, a bright smile makes its way across his face. Its been a minute since they've seen one another, but Smoker looks as handsome as ever, and there's a rare sort of grin on his features, one that Ace never got to see too often, back when they were closer.

"Been a while, Smoker." Ace says.


End file.
